Gene Demaree, center, was honored and recognized by South Ripley High School for his upcoming induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, which will take place on March 20. Presenting a special plaque to Demaree is South Ripley Supt. Rob Moorhead, left, and South Ripley High School Principal, Bob Meyer. The presentation took place between the JV & varsity South Ripley game against Southwestern on Sat., Feb. 2. All three are members of the Ripley County Basketball Hall of Fame. See story on today's Sports page.

KDH hospital building to remain vibrant part of Madison through Triology purchase

Wanda English BurnettEditor

The King's Daughters' Hospital building that people have known for years in downtown Madison, will remain in tact although the hospital services will be moving to their new home on State Road 62 later this month and will be located in the new hospital facility recently built there.

Trilogy Health Services, LLC and King's Daughters' Health reached an agreement for Trilogy to purchase the existing hospital building downtown and make it into a senior living facility.

At a recent press conference concerning the change of ownership, Roger Allman, president/CEO of King's Daughters' Health (KDH), said KDH has always strived to be "a good neighbor, a good citizen" to the downtown of Madison. He said five years ago they wondered what the future of the building would be.

Allman said they would have razed the building if needed, and started from scratch to keep from having a run-down eye sore.

That didn't have or need to happen when Trilogy became involved. They were very interested in becoming a vital part of Madison's downtown by renovating the building to the tune of about $4M and making it into one of their top-notch facilities they are known for throughout a five-state area.

Trilogy will actually take possession of the hospital building on April 1 and will begin the millions of dollars renovation project immediately, according to Randy Bufford, CEO of Trilogy Health Services. "We are very excited and honored to be here," he noted. He said their company is an organization of values and plans on extending these values and services to the Madison area.

This exchange of property will create about 125 full time jobs, plus the investment in the downtown area will be a plus for other businesses.

Andra Bladen, division vice president of Southeast Division of Trilogy Health Services, presently manages nine of Trilogy's facilities and will add the tenth one with this endeavor. But, she's excited about the added responsibility because it's in her hometown of Madison. "It's the most beautiful town in the Midwest," she noted. She says she is looking forward to serving senior citizens and the community of Madison.

Bladen noted there will be a Love Your Job Career Fair on February 14 at Ivy Tech, 590 Ivy Tech Drive, Madison, for those who might be interested in becoming part of their company.

Damon Welch, mayor of Madison, was in attendance at the press conference and said he has been waiting over a year for this day when the announcement would be made. He said he has personally experienced the quality of Trilogy's facilities through a family member who stayed there while in rehabilitation and believes them to be top-notch.

Along with the hospital structure itself, the purchase agreement includes several properties surrounding the hospital. KDH will lease the top three floors of the existing parking garage to Trilogy. KDH will continue to use the bottom two tiers of the garage for its Downtown Medical Building at 630 North Broadway.

There will still be about 150 employees of KDH working in the downtown area after the move is made. KDH will continue to utilize the business office, marketing/community relations/materials warehouse, KDH Foundation, Downtown Medical Building, sleep lab and cancer treatment center.

EMS will continue to be based out of the current garage on Fourth Street with crews responding throughout the county.

Trilogy will bring new life to the hospital with a state-of-the-art senior living center. Todd Schmiedeler, senior vice president of Trilogy, told The Versailles Republican that the company serves over 6400 people through its 75 campuses with the closest campus being in Hanover. He said they are very excited to begin the next phase of Trilogy and get the campus ready for seniors to move in.

With the vitality and durability of the downtown campus in tact, KDH officials turn their business toward moving into the new hospital. They have set a Community Open House for the new hospital and Main Campus Medical Building from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, February 17. Everyone is invited to tour the new facility. The hospital will open for patient care on February 23.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

A news conference was held at the King's Daughter's Medical Building in Madison with the announcement that Trilogy would be renovating the hospital facility to have a senior citizen complex. Pictured from left, Andra Bladen, division vice president Southeast Division, Trilogy Health Care, Madison's mayor, Damon Welch, and Trilogy's CEO Randy Bufford. KDH officials, the town and Trilogy are happy with the purchase.

Countywide School Safety Commission held at SRHS

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

Pictured above are a group of concerned administrators from seven schools in Ripley County, who came together with law enforcement, Joe Mann, Versailles Town Marshal, and Tom Grills, Ripley County Sheriff, to discuss safety for students enrolled in the county area. Schools represented included: St. Louis, Southeastern Career Center, Sunman, Jac-Cen-Del, Milan, South Ripley and Batesville. According to School Resource Officer for South Ripley, Dan Goris, the meeting was well in place before the tragedy in Connecticut, with educators from the area wanting to be proactive.

Matt Haviland, ISP Emergency Response Service, spoke to the group, along with Sgt. Bruce Copple, who is the School Resource Officer for Greensburg schools. The group talked about creating uniform comprehensive safety plans and Goris said he believed the meeting was a huge success. "It gets everybody on the same page," he noted. Goris is working as a resource officer through the Town of Versailles and also serves as a deputy marshal for the town. He said later this month, he along with Rod Hite, South Ripley's Jr. High School principal, and Joe Mann, town marshal, will be attending a class on various lock-down procedures and how they would benefit the students and staff, should they ever, God forbid, have a situation that would warrant that.

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